IF THE alarm bells were not ringing before they will now be heard loud and clear as Birmingham & Solihull went bottom of the table after a thumping defeat against Tynedale.

Just as last week against Cambridge, the Bees shipped 49 points but this time they offered little in the way of an attacking threat.

All they had to show for their efforts were three Charlie Sadler penalties but things might have turned out differently had player-coach Russell Earnshaw’s try not been scrubbed off by referee Karl Kirkpatrick.

But few things are going Bees’ way at the moment and Earnshaw made no bones about their performance.

He said: “Unfortunately the scoreline was an accurate reflection of the teams’ performances.

“There were glimpses individually but we just can’t put it together as a team for 80 minutes.

“I am fairly sure it was a try but there’s nothing we can do about it and I am not going to moan about it now. We are not getting the breaks at the moment but you need to earn the breaks.

“We have got Macclesfield next week and we just need to pick ourselves up and have a positive week’s training.

“There’s no doubt we are in a relegation scrap now.

“We are in that position because we deserve to be, not because we want to be there, but there’s no other way to get out of it than by sheer hard work.

While Tynedale started yesterday in mid-table, they were in many ways ripe for the taking with confidence shot following three straight defeats on home soil.

But their self-belief was soon coursing through their veins primarily because they had in their ranks the talented England age-grade fly-half Joel Hodgson, on loan from Newcastle Falcons.

His passing and running lines created lots of space in the midfield for the Tynedale backs to take advantage of against a beleaguered Bees defence, although his kicking left somewhat to be desired.

In contrast there was no equivalent spark in the Bees backline who, despite enjoying plenty of possession, rarely threatened to do anything constructive with it.

Before Earnshaw’s try that never was – ruled out for an offence invisible to most people – Tynedale had run riot in the early stages bringing up the bonus point inside 18 minutes.

The first try came arrived when a scrum against the head brought a try for winger Allen Rogers who prompted added a second following a break by opposite wing Hamish Smales.

Smales himself got in on the act with the hosts’ third on 16 minutes before Tynedale skipper Jack Harrison brought up the fourth.

With victory more or less assured, Tynedale took their foot off the gas allowing Birmingham to take control of the second quarter as they won a succession of penalties.

Hayter kicked three while they kicked several more to the corners which failed to bring a morale-boosting try.

During that period the home team were reduced to 14 men when Andrew Murray was yellow carded for persistent infringements but even with the numerical advantage Tynedale were able to put the game to bed early in the second half.

A Hodgson penalty on two minutes was followed by a try from Harry Mountain – converted by Hodgson for the first time in the match.

Smales grabbed his second with five minutes of the half gone and Tynedale were out of sight at 35-9.

Lock Sam Shires got Tynedale’s seventh try on 25 minutes, converted by Matty Outson who had taken over the kicking duties.

Replacement hooker George McGuigan made it eight in the final play of the game, Outson converting to end a miserable afternoon for the Bees.